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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Questioning The Value of a Job Well Done

March 27, 2014

I just want to say something before I
continue on with this piece. I am what
you consider to be a mostly perky person.
And, when I say perky, I mean perky.
I try to maintain as much of a positive attitude as possible because it
means a lot less stress and a lot more happiness overall.

(And, hey...if it annoys the hell out of those chronic "Negative
Nellies", all the better, right?)

Well, today I'm going to warn you ahead of time. This piece is probably going to be not quite as positive as most
of you are accustomed to. But that's
fine. It's not very often that I do
feel down about certain things that are going on, but I've been doing a lot of
thinking about certain things, and I feel as though I sort of have to vent
about them.

Now, granted, when I say that I want to vent, it doesn't mean that I am going
to be channeling my inner George Carlin and spouting off every single
four-letter word that I can think of.
There's definitely nothing to be gained by doing that, even if I really,
really want to! But there are other
ways to express my frustration about things.
For instance, I could turn the font a harsh, bright colour, like red for
instance. And, that's exactly what I've
done.

Again, I don't usually have feelings like
this. Most days, I'm content with
things, and how life is going (whether you choose to believe me or not.)

But today, I find myself questioning something. Questioning the way that I have lived life so far, and wondering
what the answer really is - or even if there is an answer. All I can do is express my thoughts and hope
that by the end of it all, I know where to proceed.

What I am questioning is the value of "honest work". The reason why I call it honest work as
opposed to hard work is because let's face it.
Nobody likes to work hard. I
myself prefer to work smarter instead of working harder, but I also admit that
in some circumstances, we don't always get that choice.

But you know, just based on my own experiences, and also bringing up some pop
culture examples as well, I'm starting to wonder if making an honest living
really is worth it at all.

When I was in school, I managed to get fairly
decent grades.In eighth grade, I ended
up getting nearly straight A's on my report card (the only thing that kept me
from getting that perfect report card was that stupid C minus grade that I
received in gym class).But considering
that practically everybody was moved ahead to the following grade anyway, would
it really have made much of a difference if I graduated elementary school with
a D average instead of an A average?I
recall quite a few students in my first grade class being held back by my
teacher because she felt that they were underperforming.But then again, I have very little respect
for my first grade teacher because had she had her way, I would have been held
back too because of the fact that I walked on my tiptoes instead of
flat-footed.

But you know, while I definitely won't single anybody out that I went to school
with, I will say that I was absolutely appalled at the number of kids who
basically didn't do a lick of homework all year long, who goofed off in class
all day long, and who basically coasted through the class and still managed to
do just enough work to pass ahead to the next grade, even though they were by
no means ready for it at all. But, who
do you blame in this case for that? Do
you blame the students themselves for not taking initiative? Well, in some cases yes, but in some cases
no. Everyone is different.

Or, would you blame the way that the current
school curriculum is with their "no child left behind" policies? I know some might point out that holding
back a child in school would be scarring because you'd be separating him/her
from the friends she made, but I don't fit in that category. Especially if the child purposely does no
work to prove that he or she has earned the right to graduate into the next
level. You wouldn't give someone a
driver's license if they only answered two of the twenty questions correctly,
would you?

At least...I hope not!

I don't know...I just felt that the message
that we were getting in school is that you could fail every test, not do any
work in group assignments, and goof off in class, and yet you would have no
repercussions. It certainly made the
kids in the class who actually turned their homework in on time and did all
their assignments (like myself) feel really great about ourselves. It was as if the schools didn't seem to care
about strengthening our weaknesses.
They were more concerned in moving us out of the class as if we were
cattle to make way for the next class.
It wasn't exactly the greatest feeling to have, and I suppose that by
the time I reached high school, I was feeling a little more than jaded by the
whole public education system.

But something I'm finding myself even more jaded by is the amount of people who
I encounter who basically get by in the world by doing as little as possible.

Now, before I get into more detail about this, let me just state for the record
that I am not entirely against government programs that are designed to assist
people who are in need. As long as the
people who are using them are in legitimate need for the programs, and as long
as they use them for all the right reasons, and that they understand that these
programs are not designed to be a substitute for a career.

But when people take these government programs and abuse them in such a way
that they actually make more money than I do working a full-time job (and I
really have to be careful and word this in such a way that doesn't make it seem
like EVERYBODY does it because I know they don't), but when people do this, it
kind of also makes me scratch my head in disbelief and frustration because I
have to wonder where society went wrong.

Can I just say after that seeing examples of this in action in various places
that I've been, is it any wonder that I have the feeling that maybe I've been
doing this all wrong? I'm having a
difficult time making an honest living, and yet some people seem to know all
the right steps to take in order to manipulate the system to their advantage.

And, can I just tell you right now that I absolutely HATE having these feelings
right now? As someone who is known for
looking at the brighter side of life in most cases, and tries to look for the
silver lining in every black cloud, it kind of makes me sad that thoughts like
that even run through my head at times.
I wish I didn't have them, but sometimes I can't help but think about it. I know everyone says that when you do hard
work and perform well in certain situations that the rewards will automatically
follow. But I'm really beginning to
doubt that. I don't want to think these
thoughts and wish I didn't.

I mean, a perfect example of this not working
in the world of pop culture is the television show "Good Times".In that show, we had a family who grew up in
near poverty in the Chicago projects, and their main goal was to get out of
there.And certainly Florida and James
Evans worked their hardest to make it happen and to provide a decent lifestyle
for their three children.In many
cases, James would work so many jobs that he sometimes lost track of what he
was doing.Mind you, it wasn't easy for
James to get jobs, as he didn't have his high school diploma, but this was
during a time in which getting a high school diploma wasn't necessary to land a
job.But, James did everything that he
could to put food on the table, and try everything he could to improve his
educational standing so he could get better jobs.

But just when he had found the job that could
finally get his family out of the projects, he died in a car accident. And, that was the ultimate tragedy. Not only did we get to see Florida smash a
punch bowl and scream the word "Damn" three times, but it also showed
a sad reality that no matter how hard a person works, they may never see that
hard work pay off. Of course, had John
Amos not been let go from "Good Times", there very well could have
been a happy ending for James Evans.

I don't know what the answer is.
I don't know how I can stop feeling this way. I honestly don't know if I'm doing it wrong. But I do know one thing. I can't change who I am. And, I can't just suddenly decide to lay
down and raise my white flag in surrender.
Like it or not, I am a person who is determined to make it in the world
the way that it was intended...through perseverance and dedication.

Maybe if I do enough of it, somehow it will be enough. Even though I'm really questioning if it
really does have as much value as it did some thirty or forty years ago.